It’s the idioms fault

My friend, author Pam Devoe, and I have challenged one another to blog every Friday. I met that goal two weeks in a row and then suddenly a simple idiom caused me to falter.

Idioms are interesting; their meaning is different than the words themselves. Although, the words can mean something literal, when used as an idiom, those same words mean something else entirely. Confused yet?  Hopefully I will clear things up by telling you my excuse for not getting my blog posted until today (Monday).  I was under the weather, both idiomatically and literally speaking!

Idiomatically, I was under the weather – sick, ill, sporting a fever over 102°.  I spent much of the holiday laying around (except for a few trips outdoors once the fever broke – one was my unsuccessful rendezvous with lady luck and the other taking in the Glow at the Missouri Botanical Gardens).

As you can see by the photograph posted above (which happens to be the view out my front door), I was literally under the weather – Snow, and lots of it.  I believe the final count came in at 10 – 12 inches.  And today, as I try to get this blog written and posted, the below freezing temperatures are wreaking havoc on our internet service. One second the internet is up and the next it is down. I am left with a constant urge to hit refresh hoping to catch the internet in the up mode so I can quickly jump on and post to my blog.

Since the internet is still not up, I will ramble on about idioms.   Honestly if you ever gave the time of day to idioms, you might just find them fascinating.  Idioms are really a celebration of the language people speak and in a way, a small peek inside the lives of those who speak them.  According to the book, Idiom’s Delight by Suzanne Brock, we can find American equivalents to our idioms in Spanish, French, Italian, and even Latin.

My intermittent Internet service could make me go to pieces, or in Spanish, Perder Los estribos (lose your stirrups). Perhaps it might make me even long for the good old days, or in French, Les temps des cerises (The days of cherries). However, neither of those will happen because my husband just rigged up an air card which will allow me to access the Internet.  I am happy as a lark, or in Italian, Felice Come Una Pasqua (Happy as Easter).

We may look at all the other languages and say, “it’s Greek to me!”, or in French “C’est du chinois!” (It’s Chinese), but in their essence they are all the same, a way to communicate how we feel.  Even the Greeks have idioms. And the Chinese have four character idioms, called Chengyu.

Speaking of Chinese, my friend Pam Devoe was also late this week in posting to her blog, Things Chinese. I wonder if she fell prey to a hungry Chengyu?